Cholesterol, a waxy substance, can block your arteries and prevent blood from reaching your heart, so it's important to know how to bring down your LDL—the "bad" kind of cholesterol. Luckily, it's a lot easier to lower your LDL levels than it is to raise your HDL levels. Focusing on lowering your cholesterol is a great measure to take for your overall health.

Steps

Part 1

Reducing LDL with a Balanced Diet

1

Limit your intake of saturated fats. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) strongly recommends following a low-cholesterol diet, minimizing saturated fats. And they sure know what they're talking about! The easiest way to do this is to limit the amount of processed goods in your diet and focus on fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

Just what are the main sources of saturated (and trans) fats? Think animals—beef, lamb, poultry, pork, and dairy products. The more vegetarian your diet, the lower your intake of saturated fats will be—so long as your veggies aren't slathered in butter! Just one tablespoon of the stuff has 7g of the stuff. The American Heart Association suggests saturated fat should be only 7% of your diet.[1]

2

Increase the soluble fiber you eat each day. Fruits, vegetables, and whole grains are excellent sources of fiber. These foods help to move cholesterol out of the body through stool rather than the body reabsorbing the cholesterol. You've probably heard grandma talking about it!

Oats, nuts, kidney beans, apples, pears, and flax are full of soluble fiber too. That's the kind that soaks up cholesterol, preventing it from staying in your body.[2]

3

Select foods that contain healthy fats. Those found in fish, seeds, avocados, and nuts are fats that are good for you. You do need some, you know! You want to go for the polyunsaturated kind.[3] But be careful: a handful of nuts is healthy; an entire container is not.

For oils choose olive, canola, or peanut. But make sure not to use these in addition—olive oil and the like should be a substitute for things like butter or margarine. And again: moderation is key. Even though they're chock full of healthy fats doesn't mean you can go overboard!

Extra-virgin olive oil is even better -- that means it's less processed. Aim for two tablespoons (30 g) a day to reap the benefits.[4]

4

Add food products containing sterols or stanols to your diet. These include special margarine, salad dressing, or vegetables and fruits in their natural states. They're a sort of a trendy thing, so read your labels! Companies are now even adding them to orange juice, granola bars, and cereals.[5]

Stanols and sterols sort of masquerade in the bloodstream as cholesterol (molecularly, they're very similar). Then when the cholesterol does come traveling through, your blood's all, "No thanks. We're full up already. There's no room at the inn for you!" And the cholesterol goes out with the rest of the waste. [5]

5

Drink, eat, and cook with low-fat or fat-free dairy products only.The DASH diet, the Mediterranean diet, and the Ornish diet (all diets geared toward being heart-healthy) are all low in animal products, and that includes dairy. That's because dairy (and animal products in general) are high in bad fats and cholesterol.

Just because something is high in cholesterol doesn't mean you have to avoid it entirely. The occasional egg won't undo your progress. While doctors used to think this is how it worked, they now concentrate on bad fats.[2]

You can partially replace animal product protein with other sources, like beans and other vegetable proteins. Have yet to try almond milk? What better reason than your health?! And as for soy, consuming 25g of soy protein (that's about 2 1/2 cups of soy milk) a day can lower your LDL levels by 5-6%.[6]

6

Go for Omega-3s. If you are eating anything like an American, "well balanced" is probably what you are not eating; your Omega 3:Omega 6 ratio could be as high as 1:20, when it should be 1:1. A simple way to change this? Fish.

Mackerel, salmon, lake trout, albacore tuna, and halibut are all fatty fish that are great for you—their levels of fatty acids can actually lower blood pressure and reduce your chances of blood clots. Win! If you don't like fish, you can get similar stuff from ground flaxseed or canola oil. And as always: The real thing is better than a supplement.[3]

Part 2

Reducing LDL with Healthy Lifestyle Habits

1

Lose any extra weight. Dropping pounds may help to reduce bad cholesterol. Even a loss of 10lbs can start the lowering process along.[2] A combination of diet and exercise will be the most efficient way to do this.

Fat is especially calorie-dense (9 calories per gram, whereas as carbs and protein only have 4).[7] If you're counting calories for your waistline, cutting out fat is an easy way to keep the numbers down.

2

Start a regular exercise routine. Being physically inactive is a huge culprit when it comes to having high cholesterol. The recommended amount of exercise each day is between 30 and 60 minutes; 150 minutes is recommended each week (75 minutes if the activity is vigorous).[8] You'll be healthier and feel healthier.

Choose activities that you enjoy most, like swimming, jogging, bicycling, hiking, walking, or dancing. If it's something you enjoy, you'll stick with it. Make sure it's convenient, too! You don't have to lift weights or go running—as long as you're moving, that's physical activity.

3

Have the occasional drink. For starters, if you don't drink, don't start. But if you do include alcohol in your socializing routine, keep it in—in serious moderation. Having just one drink a night (two if you're male) can help lower your cholesterol. But just the one![1]

Too much alcohol, on the other hand, can serious raise your triglyceride levels.[8] Anything more than the occasional drink will do damage to your system and put you at risk for alcoholism.

One drink is defined as 5oz of wine, 8oz of malt liquor, 12oz of beer, or 1.5oz of hard liquor.[9]

4

Quit smoking. It is a well-known fact that smoking can decrease your good HDL cholesterol levels. Smoking can also make it more difficult to exercise, which may affect your cholesterol levels overall. And for your general health, it's a great, great idea to stop.

If you haven't already bombarded with the plethora of reasons you should quit smoking, you must be living under a rock. Smoking is a serious contributor to heart disease, cancer, and other serious diseases. It also negatively affects those around you.

It's not too late. In fact, as soon as you stop smoking, your lungs begin to repair themselves.[10] And the same goes for your wallet!

Part 3

Making It Easier

1

Get social support. Everything is easier when you have an army of support behind you. Don't be ashamed of what you're going through; it's such a common thing nowadays that the American Heart Association is saying everyone 20 and older should get screened every 5 years. Twenty. So let your family and friends know because they can help.

Eating, exercising, and lifestyle habits are very much all social endeavors. Friends who smoke tempt you to smoke, friends who eat tempt you to eat, and friends who make plans drinking beer around the poker table keep you from working out. The only way they can accommodate you and help you succeed is if they know. And they'll back you 100%!

2

Get knowledgeable. The NIH has a great little booklet on understanding cholesterol that is very user-friendly. It can be found at here. It outlines the TLC diet, which this article has more or less done. After all, knowledge is power. When you know what you're fighting, you'll know how to fight it.

You're already on the right track—doing research on the internet. The next step should be your friends, family, and your doctor. Just make sure to check your sources!

3

Raise your HDL levels. Increase the rate that your body sends LDL cholesterol to the liver for excretion or re-utilization. To do this, raise your high-density lipoprotein (HDL), the good cholesterol. HDL enables your body to transport cholesterol and triglycerides through the bloodstream. Sometimes, though not always, the two work in conjunction.

Dark chocolate, green tea, and vitamin D can also increase your HDL levels. While most people can safely consume 1 glass of red wine or another alcoholic beverage a day to raise their HDL levels also, it can be detrimental to alcoholics, older people, and those who are overweight or suffering with other illnesses. If alcohol ain't your cup of Cabernet, you've an excuse to eat chocolate!

4

Find an LDL-lowering buddy. 1 out of every 3 adult Americans has high cholesterol.[11] Basically, you need to know only a handful of other people to find someone going through the same thing you are! With odds like that, it's probable you have a friend that is fighting the same battle you are, so you might as well fight it together.

Design and plan meals geared toward fighting cholesterol. Become workout buddies. Find small opportunities (like going for a swim or walking the dog) to get active. When you have someone else to share your woes with, it feels that much more doable.

5

Talk to your doctor. They can inform you about managing your cholesterol with a cholesterol-lowering medication when eating right and getting proper exercise is not enough. You have plenty of options. And don't be afraid to ask questions!

Doctors generally like to see LDL cholesterol below 160, but they do consider other factors, like age, smoking and your family history, when determining the optimal level of LDL that you should have. You may or may not be a candidate for medication. Whatever your doctor thinks is probably best for you.

Statins are the most commonly prescribed form of medication for lowering cholesterol. If a healthy routine doesn't do it, these bad boys can lower your levels by 20 to 50%![2]

Community Q&A

The best way to lower your LDL cholesterol is to exercise. Try taking 30 minute walks every day or do long-distance walking for 2-3 hours every few days. You can also try bodyweight exercises or try strength training. Just remember you cannot out-exercise a bad diet. If you start exercising, make healthy tweaks to your diet.